MGT6326 Managing International Business
Student ID:
Final Assignment
Nov-13-2020
, Introduction
In 2020, geopolitical economies’ landscape is becoming more complex due to Brexit and
trade wars between the USA and China. Multinational companies (MNC) face worldwide
competitions, but at the same time, gain easier access to worldwide market, as the world
becomes borderless. On one hand, there are debates this year whether countries should work
together to bring one other closer together thanks to technology. On the other hand, there are
also voices demanding protectionist policy to be in place. Especially after COVID-19
pandemic, the UK and the USA find out that they are too reliant on the global trade in getting
essential medical supplies from overseas like China, causing them not being able to get any
of the medical supplies when China could not export due to domestic high demand, as there
are no manufacturing capacities in their own country. In this interesting time, I hope to
summarize the key concepts learnt in this course and pick three most important pieces of
advice that can be shared with MNCs. Examples would be given.
Summary of key concepts in managing international business
8 most important concepts would be discussed here, namely culture, international strategy,
entry mode strategies, global leadership, small business going global, organization design,
local government protection tactics and international bodies’ influence on business.
1. Culture
It is important to appreciate different cultures found in various markets. This affects how
various business functions are carried out such as marketing, management style and human
resources strategies. Different frameworks like Hofstede or Hall model, provide managers the
tools to understand the general culture of a certain place. Most importantly, these tools allow
managers to compare the difference in culture between domestic and foreign locations’
cultures and set up suitable strategies.
2. International strategy
International strategy is important to sustain a MNC’s competitive advantage in order to keep
on doing business internationally. From analysing external, internal environment, back to
studying the position of a firm and what it is good at, to how to come up with strategies and
strategic plans. This whole chain of thoughts captures what kind of mindset an MNC needs to
have in order to be successful in the international market.
3. Entry mode strategy
A balance needs to be struck between how much standardization and localization shall take
place for an MNC to operate in a new market. Depend on the product or service nature,
companies can choose a strategy in this wide spectrum, such as home replication strategy
(like Starbucks firstly opening in Australia by replicating everything from the USA),
multidomestic strategy, global strategy, translational strategy and regional strategy. MNCs
can also choose exporting, licensing, forming international strategic alliance, owning wholly
owned subsidiaries, joint venture and strategic alliance depending on its resources,
knowledge, and competitive advantage, risk and control that the MNCs want to have.
4. Global leadership
The Brake’s global leadership triad, the Pyramid model of global leadership and the GLED
model provide frameworks for MNC top management to understand the key drivers for them
to lead their MNCs. It is vital for them to be able to harness the employees’ potential by
Student ID:
Final Assignment
Nov-13-2020
, Introduction
In 2020, geopolitical economies’ landscape is becoming more complex due to Brexit and
trade wars between the USA and China. Multinational companies (MNC) face worldwide
competitions, but at the same time, gain easier access to worldwide market, as the world
becomes borderless. On one hand, there are debates this year whether countries should work
together to bring one other closer together thanks to technology. On the other hand, there are
also voices demanding protectionist policy to be in place. Especially after COVID-19
pandemic, the UK and the USA find out that they are too reliant on the global trade in getting
essential medical supplies from overseas like China, causing them not being able to get any
of the medical supplies when China could not export due to domestic high demand, as there
are no manufacturing capacities in their own country. In this interesting time, I hope to
summarize the key concepts learnt in this course and pick three most important pieces of
advice that can be shared with MNCs. Examples would be given.
Summary of key concepts in managing international business
8 most important concepts would be discussed here, namely culture, international strategy,
entry mode strategies, global leadership, small business going global, organization design,
local government protection tactics and international bodies’ influence on business.
1. Culture
It is important to appreciate different cultures found in various markets. This affects how
various business functions are carried out such as marketing, management style and human
resources strategies. Different frameworks like Hofstede or Hall model, provide managers the
tools to understand the general culture of a certain place. Most importantly, these tools allow
managers to compare the difference in culture between domestic and foreign locations’
cultures and set up suitable strategies.
2. International strategy
International strategy is important to sustain a MNC’s competitive advantage in order to keep
on doing business internationally. From analysing external, internal environment, back to
studying the position of a firm and what it is good at, to how to come up with strategies and
strategic plans. This whole chain of thoughts captures what kind of mindset an MNC needs to
have in order to be successful in the international market.
3. Entry mode strategy
A balance needs to be struck between how much standardization and localization shall take
place for an MNC to operate in a new market. Depend on the product or service nature,
companies can choose a strategy in this wide spectrum, such as home replication strategy
(like Starbucks firstly opening in Australia by replicating everything from the USA),
multidomestic strategy, global strategy, translational strategy and regional strategy. MNCs
can also choose exporting, licensing, forming international strategic alliance, owning wholly
owned subsidiaries, joint venture and strategic alliance depending on its resources,
knowledge, and competitive advantage, risk and control that the MNCs want to have.
4. Global leadership
The Brake’s global leadership triad, the Pyramid model of global leadership and the GLED
model provide frameworks for MNC top management to understand the key drivers for them
to lead their MNCs. It is vital for them to be able to harness the employees’ potential by
